Digital Workshop

I have fifteen text objects, each can be dragged and dropped. However I have very limited space in which to display them, so I need the user to be able to scroll through them to make their selection/s.

I can scroll them in a frame but once dragged from the frame they disappear from screen. Let go the mouse button and they go back to their position in the frame. They just won't drop.

Any pointers/suggestions would be a help.

John

If you are dragging the objects off the page you will need to hold down Ctrl during the drag, otherwise the objects will be locked to the page.
When working with scrolled frames it is usually simplest to size the frame much larger than you need it to be; position all the objects inside it correctly and then size the frame down to the correct size. That way you can always see what you are editing.

I don't think I have made my problem clear - typical.

I have a limited amount of space to display the objects that the end user can drag and drop onto a variety of boxes. So I have to put them in some form of scrollable display.

If I put the objects into a scrollable frame, the end user can scroll through the droppable objects, and drag any of them towards a receiver box. However, as soon as an object is dragged out of the scrollable frame it disappears, and cannot be dropped. When the mouse button is let go, the object just drifts back to its original position in the scrollable frame.

I have two separate lists that I wish to scroll! The objects in each list are dragged to different sets of boxes.

John

I don't think you can drop objects into a dropzone which is in a different frame.

I made a little workaround for this scrolling objects function.

Create a frame with the objects and the dropzone in.

I used further frames as 'masks' to hide the objects which were scrolled out of sight and put vectors in them to act as scroll arrows.

I then scrolled the whole objects&dropzones frame in one direction and the dropzone itself in the opposite direction using the animation Move Horizontal actions.

The objects drop correctly, and if released without dropping return to their original position in the scrolling frame.

Hi Leiafee,

Many thanks. However - it doesn't solve my problem, or at least, I cannot see that it does.

On the time proven basis that a picture is worth a thousand words - I hope, I attach a sample page that shows the extent of my problem.
Any blue text object can be dropped on any blue drop box, and the same applies to the yellow text objects and the yellow text drop boxes.

There are more text objects than there are boxes - so the user has to make choices and can change their minds!

Given the structure of the page and that the user needs to associate a yellow text object with a blue text object - but has a free choice, it's a complicated page with little room to display the text objects to be selected.

I'm wondering if I have bitten off more than Opus can chew - to mix a metaphor up a bit!

John

John

Have you considered using a screen resolution of 1024x768? That gives you significantly more "real estate" to work with.

I know that screen resolution can be a contentious issue. With problems similar to yours, several months ago I opted to work with a screen res of 1152 x 864, and publish all my publications at a res of 1024 x 768. I find the extra space vital.

Only this morning, I did a Google search for "most popular screen resolutions". I only considered surveys dated Dec 2004. Here are 2 slightly conflicting December reports that indicate how choices are changing:

Report 1
The most popular screen resolutions on the web in the world are:
1. 1024 x 768 54.02%
2. 800 x 600 24.66%
3. 1280 x 1024 14.1%
4. 1152 x 864 4%
5. 640 x 480 0.6%
6. 1600 x 1200 0.8%
7. 1152 x 870 0.1%

Report 2
Dec 2004 report:
1024 x 768 60%
1280 x 1024 25%
800 x 600 14%

Just a suggestion.

Yes, I've wondered about screen resolution.

The program is aimed at secondary level schools in the UK. I have to confess I wonder how many have moved up from 640 x 480 yet!

I guess most secondary schools would be on 800 x 600, if not higher - very difficult to judge. I've been unable to track down any stats for this particular market - although, bearing in mind the program's main intention is to act in conjunction with an interactive whiteboard maybe the screen resolution is not crucial.

Ahhhh dunno but feel perhaps I ought to play safe - added to which I would have to reversion all the other pages!

John

Hi John,

See attached IMP of some modifications done to your sample. The process is only half done (please bear this in mind) as I'm not sure what direction you want to head. Things can start getting complicated, especially with "Drag and Drop" so I'd be trying to consider what are the easiest options for you project.

In the IMP file I have detailed comments in "Notes View" which you'll need to read. This sample may give you some ideas -- or it may give you some headaches!

Thanks Steve,

No headaches - just a sigh of relief.

I had started playing with layers - but hadn't got much further than showing an ovelapping list of text objects where each jumped to the front of the list as I mouse overed. Yours is a much more effective solution.

Do you know if there is some good reason why a text object with a coloured background cannot be dropped on a similarly coloured vector, text box or button?

Again - very many thanks for your help, I can now complete these pages and move on to generating another problem.

John

<< "Do you know if there is some good reason why a text object with a coloured background cannot be dropped on a similarly coloured vector, text box or button?" >>

Hi John,

I can't seem to replicate this -- there should be no problem. Are you sure the layering is correct, or that a layering action has placed the text object behind the similarly coloured vector object?

Also is it possible, that you have selected "ignore transparent area" on the Vector's properties tab?

Hi Steve,

Sorry - forget I said anything! The routine works exactly as you said - no problem with the colour of drop object or drop box, as you right pointed out it's the layering that causes the problem - but I can live with a white background.

Many thanks, and sorry for giving you extra work.

EDIT: Have just solved the problem of not being able to use a coloured drop box - I have set each of the destination boxes 'On show' to move to layer -10. The program now lets me have coloured text backgrounds for objects to be dropped and for their destination boxes as well.

John